CHAPTER XV.

Death by lightning.

The morning of the next day dawned rather gloomily.  A yellowish fog obscured the air, and there was a closeness and sultriness in the atmosphere that was strange for that wintry season.  I had slept well, and rose with the general sense of ease and refreshment that I always experienced since I had been under the treatment of Heliobas.  Those whose unhappy physical condition causes them to awake from uneasy slumber feeling almost more fatigued than when they retired to rest, can scarcely have any idea of the happiness it engenders to open untired, glad eyes with the morning light; to feel the very air a nourishment; to stand with lithe, rested limbs in the bath of cool, pure water, rinding that limpid element obediently adding its quota to the vigour of perfect health; to tingle from head to foot with the warm current of life running briskly through the veins, making the heart merry, the brain clear, and all the powers of body and mind in active working condition.  This is indeed most absolute enjoyment.  Add to it the knowledge of the existence of one’s own inner Immortal Spirit—­the beautiful germ of Light in the fostering of which no labour is ever taken in vain—­the living, wondrous thing that is destined to watch an eternity of worlds bloom and fade to bloom again, like flowers, while itself, superior to them all, shall become ever more strong and radiant—­with these surroundings and prospects, who shall say life is not worth living?

Dear Life! sweet Moment! gracious Opportunity! brief Journey so well worth the taking! gentle Exile so well worth enduring!—­thy bitterest sorrows are but blessings in disguise; thy sharpest pains are brought upon us by ourselves, and even then are turned to warnings for our guidance; while above us, through us, and around us radiates the Supreme Love, unalterably tender!

These thoughts, and others like them, all more or less conducive to cheerfulness, occupied me till I had finished dressing.  Melancholy was now no part of my nature, otherwise I might have been depressed by the appearance of the weather and the murkiness of the air.  But since I learned the simple secrets of physical electricity, atmospheric influences have had no effect upon the equable poise of my temperament—­a fact for which I cannot be too grateful, seeing how many of my fellow-creatures permit themselves to be affected by changes in the wind, intense heat, intense cold, or other things of the like character.

I went down to breakfast, singing softly on my way, and I found Zara already seated at the head of her table, while Heliobas was occupied in reading and sorting a pile of letters that lay beside his plate.  Both greeted me with their usual warmth and heartiness.

During the repast, however, the brother and sister were strangely silent, and once or twice I fancied that Zara’s eyes filled with tears, though she smiled again so quickly and radiantly that I felt I was mistaken.